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Week 16. - Daily Diaries - Thursday takes us to the seas of the Aegean Coast for a feast for the senses

Edited BY


G P Kennedy


To the sea


Gul - Ayvalık, The Aegean Coast of Turkey

9am

 In Turkey, we start the day with a glass of newly brewed Turkish tea. If there is no tea at breakfast, it lacks the main thing. We have our breakfast around 9am. Mike is an early bird so he has the responsibility to brew our traditional tea; we say ‘çay’ pronounced as chai, black tea. We drink it in the morning, afternoon and evening. For the traditional brew, we use çaydanlık, which is basically two stacked kettles - a big one at the bottom (for hot water) and the smaller one (for tea leaves) on top of it. 


 Typical Turkish breakfast includes olives, cheese, jams, and eggs. My sister has been making some cherry, rose, plum, fig and strawberry jams since we arrived here. The local farmers bring fresh fruit everyday that we usually do our homemade jams. We take some of them to Istanbul for the winter times too.


Fresh strawberries - yum!

10am-11.30am

After washing dishes (there’s no dishwasher here unfortunately) and tidying up, my sister quickly cuts some tomatoes to make her own sun-dried tomatoes. Unlike myself she’s very good at making things.

 

1pm

 The weather is perfect. The sun is shining firmly with a little breeze. We’re ready to go to our favourite beach, Intaland Love Village. We take the public bus at 1pm, which takes just 5 minutes but after that the beach is about 10 mins away by foot. It’s a lovely walk down to the sea actually; on the way back we usually take a shuttle to the bus stop. 


 We love going this place as one of our favourite musician, Kayahan (sadly died a couple years ago) used to live here and there are some surprise signs around in relation to his songs. Our first wedding dance song was one of his. ‘I’ve sworn once, that I can’t break my word’.  It’s a song

from 1991; we’ll celebrate our 29th anniversary next month. Here is the song if you want to listen it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OMNlHMeC_E

 

Mike enjoys the cool sea

 This is the Aegean Sea; unlike Mediterranean, the water can be a bit cooler but you would get used to it after swimming in it a little bit. The beaches are free however we pay 25 liras ($3.65) for an umbrella and a sunbed. We also get a table in the café. Mike hesitates to go into the water while I jump into. He’s an English guy, goes into the water slowly to make sure the temperature feels comfortable for him.

 

 I usually skip lunch and have some fruits instead but we enjoy sharing some finger food with cold beers at the beach café. We decided to eat healthy dinner at home anyway.

 

 We take 4.45pm bus to back on our way back home. Aegean Sea is quite salty; it is nice to have a shower and have a bit rest.

 

6.30pm

 Dinnertime is the most important meal in Turkish cuisine. Mike and I usually eat something simple and easy but being on holiday and being with my sisters, our dinners have become into quality family times. My sister likes cooking; between my sis and Mike they produce a table like you are in a restaurant. 


Meze for dinner - delicious

 Yesterday Mike cooked for us, today, my sister’s turn. She’s already made some veggie mezes yesterday– green beans, stuffed peppers, and sea beans that she picked up from the beach. I’m making some salads too. While we eat our mezes Mike puts some fish, Çipura, (I think it’s called Gilt Head Breams in English) in the oven.

 

8pm

 We are all ready to go to the beach – the one just right our corner- to watch the sunset. Every evening looks different and we just can’t get enough of these sunsets. I take lots of photos every night.


The sun sets on a satisfying day

 Mike is making us an evening tea while he continues to sip his beer.

 

 Just after midnight – the place goes very quiet and everybody goes to bed.

 

 For the location

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayval%C4%B1k

 

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